Radiator is spitting coolant :-(

[318i1989]

hi there, I wondered if i could ask some advice. A few days ago i noticed my temperature gauge went sky high on my 318i m40 so i checked the coolant and there was none there even though it was changed last week.

I topped up the coolant yesterday and checked it today and it had all gone!So I then topped it all up again this afternoon and let the car idle for 5 mins,

I then saw the coolant flowing out the bottom of the header tank :-O

Any ideas what's wrong with it? btw. It last had a new radiator a couple of years ago so it's not that old....

[hoshy]

first thing to check is the clips on the pipe - the pipe itself and I think there's a drain screw down there also. Hopefully it's one of those items!

If you do need a new rad I've got one you can have - it's in the midlands, Shrewsbury. Otherwise if that's too far then somebody else will have one for sale I'm sure.

[Brianmoooore]

Any ideas what's wrong with it? .

In short - but right whatever someone bu**ered up last week, and hope no permanent damage has been done.
Difficult to believe the two things aren't connected!

[hoshy]

Any ideas what's wrong with it? .

In short - but right whatever someone bu**ered up last week, and hope no permanent damage has been done.
Difficult to believe the two things aren't connected!

Just being nosy - but wtf?

[Brianmoooore]

even though it was changed last week.

[hoshy]

lol- cheers brian - clearly I'm blind

[318i1989]

oops, really should have rephrased that. I meant to say that I regularly check the fluid levels and the coolant was just topped up last week (not changed) ! sorry for the confusion.

Any more ideas?

thanks

[hoshy]

did you check the things i mentioned in my first post??

[318i1989]

yea i checked those things buddy but still no luck. Is a pain in the arse considering how new the existing radiator is.

could it be anything to do with my head gasket? I was already concerned about the head gasket lately due to the amount of "mayonnaise" that's been appearing all the time despite the frequent servicing I give the car

cheers

[Brianmoooore]

I then saw the coolant flowing out the bottom of the header tank

Do you mean where the semi see through bit joins the black plastic?
The header tank has a gasket around the bottom of it and this may be leaking.
Could be because the gasket wasn't renewed when the new rad was fitted. (New rad came without header tank?), the screws have come loose, or it could be excess pressure because of a pressure cap that should have been changed under a recall several years ago and wasn't/

[hoshy]

dunno, mate - I just wanted to point out the more obvious things. If Brian is on the case he should see you good as he's a bit of a legend around these parts.

[J_Mac]

mayonnaise under the oil cap is not a good sign mate, look for white smoke out the the exhaust but this would not be the problem your talking about, more the opposite, when you said it overheated, that may of damaged the head gasket then or even worse cracked the head.

Back to your leak, you said you could see coolant comming out of the bottom of the header tank, surly the fault lies there (by that i mean you can see it) damaged or split pipe or the header tank split itself?

I hope the head issue isn't as bad as it sounds for you mate

[318i1989]

Do you mean where the semi see through bit joins the black plastic?

cheers for your help guys, the leak isn't coming directly out of the bottom of the header tank, it looks like it's coming out more towards the bottom right of it (where it sits next to the rad).

Tomorrow I'll try and take a pic of where it's gushing out from cos it's quite difficult to explain/picture in my head

cheers